THE 

UNION  MISSIONARY 
MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

AT  VELLORE 


“If  she  have  sent  her  servants  in  our  pain, 

If  she  have  fought  with  Death  and  dulled  his  sword, 

If  she  have  given  back  our  sick  again 

And  to  the  breast  the  weakling  lips  restored. 

Is  it  a little  thing  that  she  has  wrought? 

Then  Life  and  Death  and  Motherhood  be  nought.” 
Kipling's  “Song  of  the  Wonnen’’ 


This  booklet  is  one  of  a series  of  seven 
describing  the  Women’s  Union  Christian 
Colleges  in  the  Orient  and  published  by  the 
Joint  Committee  on  these  colleges.  The 
ten  cooperating  Women’s  Boards  of  For- 
eign Missions  in  America  provide  the  main- 
tenance but  are  unable  to  secure  land  and 
buildings  which  rapid  growth  has  made 
necessary.  All  are  in  temporary  crowded 
quarters. 

The  Trustees  of  the  Laura  Spelman 
Rockefeller  Memorial  Fund  have  promised 
approximately  a million  dollars  toward  the 
three  millions  required.  This  conditional 
pledge  must  be  met  before  January  1,  1923. 
If  the  story  of  this  adventure  in  Interna- 
tional Friendship  and  the  appeal  for  aid 
seem  important  to  you  will  you  not  send 
your  check  or  pledge  to  the  Assistant  Treas- 
urer of  the  Joint  Committee,  Miss  Hilda 
L.  Olson,  300  Ford  Building,  Boston,  Mass., 
or  to  the  Treasurer  of  your  own  Woman’s 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  designating  a 
special  college  or  building  if  you  desire. 


In  the  Laboratory  at  Vellore 


JOINT  COMMITTEE  OF  THE 
WOMEN’S  UNION  CHRISTIAN  COLLEGES 
IN  THE  ORIENT 
1921 


Dr.  Scudder  and  the  Medical  Students  at  Vellore 


THE  UNION  MISSIONARY 
MEDICAL  SCHOOL  AT  VELLORE 


ETTERS  of  brass  are  brittle  compared  with  the 
fetters  of  Caste  and  Custom  with  which  the  women 
of  India  are  bound. 

Our  good  tidings  of  great  joy  which  shall  be 
to  all  people  can,  how  hardly,  pierce  that  stern  resistance. 
Nevertheless,  mighty  through  God  are  the  weapons  He  gives 
us  to  the  pulling  down  of  strongholds.  This  sketch  sets 
forth  one  potent  weapon  already  in  our  hands  with  which  to 
strike  off  those  fetters.  But,  first,  what  do  Caste  and  Custom 
denote?  Just  what  is  the  resistance  with  which  we  have  to 
reckon? 

CONSEQUENCES  been  well  said  that  Caste,  the  most 

OF  BREAKING ' appalling  social  thraldom  suffered  by  any 
CASTE  people  on  earth,  defies  definition.  It  is  the 

division  of  the  Hindu  people  into  strictly  defined  classes  ac- 
cording to  the  condition  or  avocation  of  their  ancestors.  It 
determines  every  circumstance  of  daily  life:  birth,  death, 
marriage,  cooking,  eating,  contact  with  their  fellowmen.  This 
last  to  such  a pitch  that  a glance  by  a person  of  another  caste 
at  food  made  ready  for  consumption  entails  the  casting  away 
by  its  possessors  of  that  food  as  polluted  and  poisonous. 

In  Southern  India,  devoted  missionaries  are  seeking  to 
carry  the  Gospel  into  the  homes  of  the  people  of  various 
castes,  higher  and  lower. 

We  see,  as  an  illustration  of  what  not  infrequently  follows 
the  preaching  of  the  Word,  a young  wife  lying  bruised  and 
unconscious  on  the  floor  of  the  inner  room  of  a Hindu  house. 


3 


Her  husband,  encouraged  by  her  own  mother,  has  set  himself 
to  make  her  conform  to  a certain  Caste  custom,  suspicion 
being  aroused  that  she  is  coming  under  Christian  influence. 
This  ceremonial  is  idolatrous.  The  girl-wife  has  refused. 
Her  husband  beat  her  then,  blow  upon  blow,  till  she  fell 
senseless.  They  brought  her  around  and  began  again.  There 
is  no  redress.  She  is  not  free  to  be  a Christian. 

But  sometimes  a young  girl  in  a high  caste  home  has  had 
even  the  courage  to  break  her  own  chains  and  confess  Christ 
in  baptism.  The  result?  She  disappears.  Sometimes  she  is 
immured  for  life  in  a dark  corner  of  the  Hindu  house;  some- 
times a frail  little  body  is  found  thrown  outside  the  house 
door.  A crime?  Yes.  But  nobody  is  convicted.  Caste  sees 
to  that/'  Following  this  an  interdict  may  be  laid  upon  a 
whole  village,  forbidding  all  further  communication  with 
those  who  would  teach  “the  Way.” 

CONFUSION  There  is  confusion  worse  than  death.  There 
WORSE  THAN  have  been  young  children  with  hearts  touched 
DEATH  by  the  love  of  Christ  who  have  been 

for  that  reason  constrained  to  Caste  obedience  by  “mind- 
bewildering  poison.”  Others  have  been  forced  into  flames 
of  foul  impurity  in  which  their  innocence  was  burnt  to  ashes. 
Ashes  rubbed  upon  the  brow  of  these  little  ones  are  the 
significant  sign  of  their  submission  to  that  Invisible  Hand 
which  manipulates  the  fabric  of  Hinduism. 

“It  makes  one’s  heart  sick  to  think  of  them  and  the  hellisl 
means  invented  to  turn  them  from  Christ”  writes  a mis- 
sionary. And  Mr.  Kipling  says,  “The  foundations  of  life  are 

rotten,  utterly  rotten,  and  beastly  rotten The  country 

cannot  advance  a step.  Half  of  it  is  morally  dead,  and  worse 
than  dead.” 

Hardly  less  terrible  than  the  tyranny  of 

THE  TYRANNY  c^ste,  with  which  it  is  closely  interwoven,  is 

OF  CUSTOM  , X n * TT  ^ T .1- 

that  of  Custom.  Upon  the  women  of  India 

in  the  upper  classes  this  weight  presses  heaviest.  Here  we 

4 


strike  the  essential  body  of  Hindu  law,  the  Code  of  Manu, 
older  than  the  Law  of  Moses,  covering  social  and  domestic 
life.  A few  of  its  precepts  follow: 

“Sinful  woman  must  be  as  foul  as  falsehood  itself.  This 
is  a fixed  law.” 

“Though  destitute  of  every  virtue,  or  seeking  pleasure  else- 
where, yet  a husband  must  be  constantly  worshipped  as  a god 
by  a faithful  wife.” 

“A  woman  is  not  allowed  to  go  out  of  the  house  without 
the  consent  of  her  husband.” 

But,  someone  will  comment,  these  are  ancient  phrases  not 
in  effect  in  modern  life.  Common  proverbs  such  as  the  fol- 
lowing, current  today  in  India,  prove  that  these  dicta  of  Manu 
are  not  dead  letter: 

“He  is  a fool  who  considers  his  wife  as  his  friend.” 

“Educating  a woman  is  like  putting  a knife  in  the  hands  of 
a monkey.” 


OPINIONS  OF  These  proverbs  are  echoed  in  recent  utter- 
MODERN  HINDU  ances  of  an  educated,  English-speaking 
GENTLEMEN  Hindu  gentleman. 

“The  average  wish  of  a young  man  among  us  nowadays,” 
he  writes,  “is  to  marry  a girl  who  is  industrious  and  who 
knows  some  art  (craft  or  industry).  .They  don’t  want  a B.  A. 
but  a B.  M.  (Basket  Mender) ; not  an  M.  A.  but  an  M.  M. 
(Milk  Maid) ! She  must  keep  poultry.  They  want  one  who 

can  really  be  of  service  at  home Moreover,  when  our 

girls  finish  higher  education  they  are  at  least  twenty-one 

years  of  age To  our  people,  such  brides  are  very,  very 

old I do  not  believe  in  the  goodness  of  a woman  who  is 

not  fit  to  be  a wife  and  a mother.  What  is  she  good  for?” 
Such  is  our  Hindu  friend’s  triumphant  climax.  Plainly  he 
has  had  no  suspicion  that  a woman  may  have  a soul. 

To  him,  distressed  at  thought  of  the  aged  bride  of  twenty- 
one  years,  the  sight  of  the  child-wife  of  eight  or  nine,  the 
child  mother  of  twelve,  must  be  particularly  pleasing.  We 

5 


read  of  one  such,  “quite  a little  girl,  and  as  playful  as  a 
kitten.  Her  soft  round  arms  and  little  dimpled  hands  looked 
fit  for  no  harder  work  than  play,  but  she  was  pounding  rice 
when  I saw  her,  and  looked  tired,  and  as  if  she  wanted  her 

mother A very  old  man  hobbled  in  as  I sat  there.  He 

was  crippled,  and  leaned  full  weight  with  both  hands  on  his 
stick.  He  seemed  asthmatic,  too,  and  coughed  and  panted 
wofully.  A withered,  decrepit,  old  ghoul.  The  child  stood 
up  when  he  came  in  and  touched  her  neck  where  the  marriage 
symbol  lay.  Then  I knew  he  was  her  husband.” 

Be  sure  this  old  man  had  paid  a high  price  to  the  parents 
for  that  dainty  bit  of  flesh  and  blood.  Neither  he,  nor  they, 
nor  our  vigorous  young  Hindu  foe  of  education-for-women, 
would  find  anything  unnatural  in  such  a marriage.  “It  is 
our  custom”  they  would  say.  That  is  final. 

Accursed  is  a strong  word,  a terrible  word, 
CHILD  WIDOWS  but  is  not  too  strong,  too  terrible,  for  the 
lot  to  which  Custom  and  Superstition  con- 
demn the  child  widows  of  India.  It  is  a familiar  story 
this  of  “cold  suttee”: — the  betrothal  in  infancy;  the  death  of 
the  bridegroom;  the  child-bride,  who  perhaps  has  never  seen 
him,  held  guilty  therefor;  the  life  sentence  which  is  disgrace, 
ill-treatment,  the  single  coarse  garment,  her  touch  pollution, 
her  title,  rand  equivalent  to  harlot.  Accursed  she  is  counted 
in  her  family;  doubly  so  by  herself.  Whither  can  the  child 
widow  turn  for  escape?  No  respectable  family  will  have 
her  for  a servant.  She  has  been  rendered  repulsive  in  ap- 
pearance by  the  shaving  of  her  head.  She  is  absolutely 
ignorant,  absolutely  destitute,  owning  only  her  single  gar- 
ment. The  alternatives  before  her  are  submission  to  her 
wretched  lot,  suicide,  or  a life  of  infamy.  Suicide  is  common; 
still  more  common  the  life  of  shame.  From  the  ranks  of 
child  widows  are  drawn  many  recruits  for  the  temple-girls, 
those  “tied  to  the  god.”  “Tied  indeed,”  cries  Amy  Car- 
michael, who  knows  whereof  she  speaks;  “tied  with  ropes 

6 


Satan  twisted  in  his  cruellest  hour  in  hell,”  for  the  Holy 
Brahman,  whose  toys  these  children  become,  is  of  all  men 
most  vile. 


It  being  universally  accepted  by  Hindu  and 

SECLUSION  OF  Moslem  alike  in  India  that  woman  is  desti- 
WOMEN 

tute  of  soul  or  of  virtue,  women  of  the 
higher  castes  are,  as  is  a familiar  fact,  immured  for  life 
within  zenana  or  harem,  in  what  Kipling  calls  a worse  than 
penal  confinement.  Do  not  imagine  these  child-wives  as 
Oriental  beauties  living  in  luxurious  delight  a la  Lalla  Rookh. 
They  are,  for  the  most  part,  poorly  and  plainly  clad;  they  sit 
on  mud  floors  in  the  darkest  and  dirtiest  apartments  in  the 
Indian  establishment.  They  are  ignorant,  apathetic,  forced 
by  the  very  logic  of  the  situation  to  gossip  and  intrigue.  Mrs. 
Peabody,  when  in  South  India,  visited  in  the  house  of  a 
Mohammedan  noble  in  Vellore  into  which  a Christian  mis- 
sionary woman  had  been  admitted  as  teacher,  as  occurs  some- 
times in  fairly  liberal  circles. 

In  the  company  was  a charming  girl  of  sixteen  who  was 
called  upon  to  recite  for  the  pleasure  of  the  American  guest. 
To  her  surprise  the  finely  rendered  recitation  proved  to  be 
the  121st  Psalm.  At  the  close,  Mrs.  Peabody  asked  if  the 
Psalm  did  not  remind  the  speaker  of  the  encircling  hills 
around  her  own  city.  To  this  the  young  Mohammedan  girl 
replied  simply,  “I  have  never  seen  them.”  She  was  not  blind. 
She  had  lived  her  life  in  Vellore. 

No  man,  save  her  father  or  husband,  may 
HOW  IT  FARES  upon  the  face  of  a secluded  woman, 

IN  SICKNESS  XT-  . 1 TVT  • -1 

Hindu  or  Moslem.  Never  in  sickness  or  in 

face  of  death  can  a male  physician  minister  to  her  needs. 

An  Anglo-Indian  doctor  tells  us  of  a friend  of  his,  a 
native  Indian  physician,  a Sikh  by  birth  and  religion,  whose 
son  had  brought  his  wife  home  to  his  father’s  house  ac- 
cording to  patriarchal  fashion.  The  little  girl-wife  was 
taken  dangerously  ill.  The  father-in-law,  albeit  the  instincts 

7 


alike  of  physician  and  family  affection  stirred  strongly  within 
him,  could  do  nothing  for  her.  The  prohibition  of  Custom 
was  immutable. 

What  of  the  native  practice  of  medicine  in  India  ? V olumes 
might  be  written  on  the  atrocities  and  absurdities  of  wizards, 
quack  doctors,  and  the  hideous  usages  of  native  midwifery. 
The  ministry  of  Christian  physicians  comes  as  a revelation 
to  the  tortured  victims. 

AN  EXAMPLE  OF  scene  is  a ward  in  a Christian  Hospital 
CHRISTIAN  for  women  in  South  India.  The  patients 
TREATMENT  in  adjacent  beds,  convalescents,  converse  to- 


gether. 

“What’s  the  matter  with  you?”  says  bed  No.  1 contentedly. 
“My  husband  became  angry  with  me,  because  the  meal  wasn’t 
ready  when  he  came  home  and  he  cut  my  face.  The  Doctor 
Miss  Sahib  has  mended  me,  she  has  done  what  my  own 
mother  would  not  do.”  Said  another  in  reply  to  the  question, 
“The  cow  horned  my  arm,  but  until  I got  pneumonia  I 
couldn’t  stop  milking  or  making  bread  for  the  father  of  my 
children,  even  if  it  was  broken.  The  hospital  is  my  Mahap 
(mother-father) .” 


“What  care  would  you  get  at  home?”  chimed 
NON-CHRISTIAN  another  who  had  been  burning  up  with 
TREATMENT  fever.  “Oh!  I would  be  out  in  the  deserted 
part  of  the  woman’s  quarters.  It  would  be  a wonderful  thing 
if  any  one  would  pass  me  a cup  of  water,”  she  replied.  From 
another  bed,  a young  wife  of  sixteen  spoke  of  having  been 
ill  with  abscesses.  “One  broiling  day,”  she  said,  “I  had 
fainted  with  thirst.  The  midwives  had  neglected  me  all 
through  the  night,  and,  thinking  I was  dying,  they  threw 
me  from  the  cord-bed  to  the  floor,  and  dragged  me  down  the 
steep  stone  staircase  to  the  lowest  cellar  where  I was  lying, 
next  to  the  evil-smelling  dust-bin,  ready  for  removal  by  the 
carriers  of  the  dead,  when  the  Doctor  Miss  Sahib  found  me 
and  brought  me  here.  She  is  my  mother  and  I am  her  child.” 

9 


An  old  woman  in  Bed  No.  4 exhorts  the  patients  around 
her  to  trust  the  mission  workers.  “I  was  against  them  once,” 
she  tells  them,  “but  now  I know  what  love  means.  Caste? 
What  is  caste?  I believe  in  the  goodness  they  show.  That 
is  their  Caste.” 

Words  profoundly  wise! 

THE  PROBLEM  problem  has  been  stated,  or  rather,  un- 

STATED;  WHAT  derstated,  merely  suggested.  Where  do  we 
lSITSSOLUTION?see  solution?  How  bring  to  these  darkened 
homes,  darkened  minds,  tortured  bodies,  the  light  which  is 
the  life  of  men? 

The  medical  practice  of  Christian  women  among  the  wo- 
men of  India  has  thus  far  proved  the  most  availing,  although 
by  no  means  the  only  means  to  these  ends. 

Says  Dr.  Moorshead,  women  ' doctors  alone  can  the  very 

great  amount  of  pitiful  suffering  prevailing  amongst  immense 
multitudes  of  heathen  and  Moslem  women  be  effectually  al- 
leviated or  cured.” 

Yes,  the  Christian  Woman  Doctor  finds  ready  admission 
to  the  homes  of  India  in  which  no  other  missionary  could 
be  received.  She  gains  the  confidence,  respect,  gratitude, 
affection  of  the  secluded  women.  They  Listen  to  the  story 
of  the  Great  Physician  from  her  lips  as  with  her  hands  she 
ministers  to  their  suffering  bodies. 

One  hundred  and  sixty-five  million  women 
COLD  FACTS  and  girls  at  least  in  India ; thirty-three  mil- 
lions widowed;  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
these  of  tender  years.  A million  are  dedicated  to  prostitution 
as  temple  girls,  being  “married  to  the  god.”  Over  ten  per- 
cent of  the  woman  of  India  are  married  under  ten  years  of 
age;  over  fifty  per  cent  under  fifteen.  Maternity  at  about  the 
age  of  twelve  is  the  common  lot.  Native  medical  practice 
is  worse  than  criminal. 

Thus  far  what  are  the  forces  ready  to  combat  the  appalling 
conditions  involved  in  these  statistics?  Under  missionary 

10 


control  there  are  now  at  work  in  India  one  hundred  and 
fifty-nine  Christian  women  physicians. 

Can  this  handful  be  increased  by  additional  medical  mis- 
sionaries from  the  West  until  the  whole  mass  of  suffering 
Hindu  womanhood  is  succored?  Impossible.  If  possible 
it  would  be  a mistaken  goal  towards  which  to  strive. 

T’ur’ N,  A The  women  of  India  must  come  to  their 
THE  NATIVE 

WOMAN  PHYSl- 

CIAN  THE  KEY  For  the  20th  century,  the  emphasis  must 
TO  THE  SITUA-  be  laid  on  the  native  Christian  medical 

TION  woman. 

The  little  band  of  women  doctors  sent  out  to  India  can 
never  by  themselves  alone  touch  more  than  a fringe  of  the 
suffering  womanhood.  This  point  is  now  generally  conceded. 
PIONEERS  IN  rapidly  as  possible  the  native  people  must 

MEDICAL  learn  to  stand  upon  their  own  feet,  and 

SERVICE  emerge  from  a state  of  tutelage.  There  is  a 

note  of  encouragement  to  those  who  seek  the  salvation  of 
Indian  women  in  the  fact  that  the  initial  call  for  medical 
ministration  to  Oriental  women  by  those  of  their  own  sex 
came  at  the  suggestion  of  a Hindu  gentleman.  In  response 
to  this  call,  in  the  year  1869,  Dr.  Clara  Swain  went  to  India, 
the  first  woman  physician  known  to  history  to  undertake, 
in  the  Name  of  Christ,  the  practice  of  medicine  among 
heathen  women. 

But  Dr.  Swain  was  not  the  first  medical  missionary.  That 
distinction  belongs  to  Dr.  John  Scudder,  a successful  young 
New  York  City  physician,  who  went  to  India  in  1819  in 
response  to  a call  for  “someone  who  could  combine  the  quali- 
ties of  missionary  and  physician.”  His  name,  carried  on  by 
his  descendants  as  Christian  missionaries,  will  stand  in  per- 
petuity as  the  founder  of  medical  missions.  A thousand  years 
of  service  in  the  name  of  Christ  to  Christless  peoples  is  the 
offering,  up  to  this  day,  of  the  Scudder  family.  How  does 


the  story  of  the  Scudders  bear  upon  the  training  of  native 
women  doctors  for  India? 

How  can  the  native  girls  of  India  practice 

VELLORE  AND 

“DOCTOR  IDA”  unless  they  first  themselves  be 

taught?  How  can  they  be  taught  without 
medical  schools  and  teachers?  Certain  of  these  native  girls 
have  sought  training  in  Europe  or  in  our  own  county.  This 
is  good,  but  not  good  enough.  The  way  is  very  long;  the 
process  costly  and  divisive.  The  native  school  on  native 
ground  for  the  training  of  the  native  woman  in  medicine 
stands  out  as  the  imperative  need  of  the  hour  in  India. 

The  government  of  India  is  heartily  in  sympathy  with  the 
proposition  and  has  endeavored  to  meet  the  need  in  some 
of  its  medical  schools  for  men.  Society,  however,  is  not 
ready  for  the  education  of  women  with  men  in  medical  schools 
and  the  experiment  has  been  unsuccessful.  The  government, 
acknowledging  the  failure,  now  turns  to  the  few  women 
doctors  under  missionary  auspices  and  urges  them  to  proceed 
with  their  plans  as  with  them  the  girls  can  be  more  or  less 
sheltered  and  under  high  Christian  and  moral  influences  dur- 
ing their  period  of  medical  education. 

A beginning  has  been  made.  There  are  now  in  working 
order  in  India  two  schools  of  medicine  for  women  under 
missionary  control,  one  in  the  North,  at  Ludhiana;  one  in 
the  South  at  Vellore. 

Vellore  and  Ida  Scudder,  grand-daughter  of  John  Scudder, 
are  one  and  indivisible.  At  the  centre  of  the  Arcot  Mission, 
in  1896  medical  work  for  women  was  begun  by  Dr.  Louisa 
H.  Hart.  At  her  instance  was  initiated  a movement  for  a 
much-needed  separate  hospital  for  women  and  children.  And 
now  we  meet  one  of  the  third  generation  of  the  Scudder 
family,  a personality  of  rare  grace  and  distinction, — Dr.  Ida 
Scudder. 


12 


Dr.  Ida  Scudder 

Who  is  Carrying 
on  the  Work 
Which  Her 
Grandfather 
Started  More 
Than  a Century 
Ago. 


A Hindu  Medical 
Student. 


Ida  Scudder,  as  she  proceeded  with  her  education  in  North- 
field  Seminary,  had  no  intention  of  following  in  the  inherited 
Scudder  line  of  activity.  Indeed,  she  distinctly  decided  not 
to  be  a missionary,  the  question  naturally  confronting  one 
with  her  grandfather’s  blood  in  her  veins.  Thus  minded, 
she  went  to  India  on  a visit  to  her  father  and  mother  in  the 
Arcot  Mission,  purposing  soon  to  return  to  the  United  States 
and  live  her  own  life  as  if  she  had  not  been  a Scudder. 
Surely  she  had  the  right  so  to  do. 

But  one  day,  as  Ida  Scudder  sat  in  her  father’s  house,  he 
being  away  on  tour,  a Hindu  gentleman  of  high  rank  came, 
begging  her  to  come  to  his  young  wife,  who  was  in  urgent 
need  of  surgical  aid.  The  girl  explained  to  the  Hindu  gentle- 
man that  she  was  not  a physician,  as  he  seemed  to  imagine, 
but  that  if  her  father.  Dr.  Scudder,  should  return  in  time  she 
would  send  him.  Then  the  man  made  it  clear  to  her  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  his  wife  to  be  treated  by  a man, 
she  being  of  high  caste.  With  this  he  turned  away  sorrowful. 
Ida  Scudder’s  heart  burned  within  her  as  she  felt  her  help- 
lessness. 

Later  in  the  day  came  another,  a low-caste  man,  begging 
the  girl  in  the  name  of  all  the  gods  to  come  to  his  poor  house 
to  save  his  wife,  who  was  in  mortal  need.  Again  she  could 
only  refuse. 

That  night  from  the  aristocratic  Brahman  quarter  at  one 
side  of  the  town  and  from  the  out-caste  hut  at  the  other  came 
the  wailing  for  the  dead.  The  bodies  of  two  young  wives 
and  two  new-born  babies  were  carried  to  the  burning  ground. 

Ida  Scudder  knew  that  night  what  lay  before  her.  Stronger 
than  her  own  will  was  the  will  of  God  thus  made  known  to 
her.  She  returned  to  America,  entered  Cornell  Medical 
School,  and  twenty-five  years  ago  began  her  life-work  in 
the  new  Woman’s  Hospital  in  Vellore,  built  largely  from 
funds  which  she  had  herself  raised  in  the  United  States. 


14 


THE  HOSPITAL  Mary  Taber  Schell  Hospital  under  the 

THE  NUCLEUS  Dutch  Reformed  Church  Board,  named  for 
OF  THE  MEDI-  the  wife  of  its  chief  donor,  Robert  T.  Schell, 
CAL  SCHOOL  was  opened  for  patients  in  1903  in  charge 
of  Dr.  Hart  and  Dr.  Ida  Scudder,  who  remains  its  head. 
The  nurses  are  native  Christian  girls,  trained  in  the  hospital 
and  taught  to  minister  in  Christ’s  name  to  their  suffering 
sisters.  Under  the  strong,  sympathetic  ministration  of  Dr. 
Hart  and  Dr.  Scudder,  the  success  of  the  Vellore  Women’s 
Hospital  has  been  phenomenal. 

Now  the  nucleus  of  the  medical  training-school  is  always 
the  hospital.  As  time  went  on  the  heads  of  the  Vellore 
Hospital,  in  view  of  the  crying  need  for  medical  training  for 
the  native  women  of  the  land,  found  that  they  must  enlarge 
the  scope  of  their  work.  The  beginning  was  already  made. 
In  the  sisterhood  of  Christian  medical  women  of  South  India, 
and  in  conspicuous  degree  in  Dr.  Anna  S.  Kugler,  the  veteran 
Lutheran  Missionary  of  Guntur,  Dr.  Scudder  has  found 
strong  and  sympathetic  support.  The  Voorhees  College  for 
men,  under  the  Dutch  Reformed  Board,  offered  powerful  co- 
operation. 

From  its  inception  in  1913  the  new  medical  school  was 
planned  as  an  interdenominational  institution.  The  Govern- 
ment of  India,  clearly  recognizing  the  terrible  existing  con- 
ditions, pledged  one-half  support  if  six  girls  should  apply  as 
students.  The  Government  also  gave  a site  for  the  School 
consisting  of  two  hundred  acres,  “a  whole  hill.” 

On  August  13,  1918  the  new  college  was  form- 

FORMAL  OPEN-  opened  by  H.  E.  Lord  Pentland,  Gov- 
ING  OF  COLLEGE  . ,/r  j r>  -j  rp,  ^ 

ernor  of  Madras  Presidency.  The  Governor 

was  welcomed  by  Dr.  Anna  S.  Kugler,  and  presented  with  a 
dignified  document,  a memorial,  by  Dr.  Ida  Scudder.  It 
was  an  occasion  of  impressive  and  far-reaching  significance, 
inaugurating  a new  order  of  things  in  South  India. 


15 


Sixty-nine  Indian  girls  applied  for  entrance 
REPORT  OF  ,,  j ^ *1,  11  j • 

MADRAS  MAIL  doors  of  the  college  opened  in 

August,  1918.  In  the  following  year  eighty- 
nine  applied,  most  of  whom  had  to  be  turned  away,  because 
there  is  no  accommodation  for  them. 

A copy  of  the  Madras  Mail,  describes  the  inspection  visit 
of  Governor  and  Lady  Willingdon  to  this  College,  and  tells 
us  that  “this  institution  had  then  thirty-eight  women  pupils 
undergoing  training  for  sub-assistant  surgeoncies.  Four  of 
these  are  Hindus,  two  Anglo-Indians,  and  the  rest  Indian 
Christians.  The  school,  though  it  is  only  in  its  second  year 
course,  has  already  made  its  mark,”  the  report  continues, 
“in  the  medical  educational  world.” 

“Her  Excellency,  while  expressing  her  gratification  at  the 
success  attained  by  the  pupils,  said  she  could  find  work  for 
fifty  at  once,  if  they  could  be  got,”  the  Madras  paper  goes  on 
to  say.  “Requisitions  have  gone  forth  both  to  America  and 
Great  Britain  for  more  lady  doctors  as  teachers  in  the  school 
for  third  and  fourth-year  classes  now  established.  Over  two 
hundred  acres  of  suitable  land  have  already  been  acquired 
by  the  Government  for  the  Medical  School Her  Excell- 

ency carried  away  with  her  very  pleasant  recollections  of 
the  work  of  this  school,  which  is  doing  a most  philanthropic 
service  for  a class  of  Indians  for  whom  medical  relief  on  a 
scale  adequate  to  the  extensive  demand  is  yet  to  be  provided.” 

Thus  we  see  how  Dr.  Scudder  and  a small 

VELLORE  UP  TO  group  of  medical  women,  American  and 
DATE 

British,  in  South  India,  with  the  encourage- 
ment of  the  medical  men  of  South  India,  have  gone  forward 
in  the  face  of  tremendous  difficulties  and  have  opened  the 
first  medical  school  for  women  amid  a population  larger 
than  that  of  the  United  States.  They  secured  two  women 
doctors  for  the  faculty  the  opening  year,  now  reinforced  by 
the  coming  of  Dr.  Katherine  Scott,  formerly  resident  phy- 
sician of  Vassar  College,  and  by  Drs.  Jessie  and  Elizabeth 

16 


Findlay  and  Dr.  Griscom,  Voorhees  College  for  men  has 
welcomed  the  girl  students  to  its  classes  in  science  and  to 
the  use  of  its  laboratories.  The  Mary  Taber  Schell  Hospital, 
indispensable  corner-stone  of  the  institution,  is  to  be  housed 
in  a larger  and  more  modern  building  meeting  all  Govern- 
ment requirements.  The  old  building  has  been  sold.  Money 
is  needed  for  the  new  hospital  structure,  which  must  include 
one  hundred  and  fifty  beds.  A bequest  from  the  estate  of 
Mrs.  John  D.  Rockefeller  supplies  the  money,  fifty  thousand 
dollars,  for  the  main  scholastic  building  which  is  to  house 
class  rooms,  offices  and  laboratory.  The  first  dormitory  will 
be  provided  by  the  Tremont  Temple  Church,  Boston.  The 
operating  theatre  will  stand  apart  from  other  buildings. 
Funds  for  this  building  have  been  pledged  by  a church  in 
Providence,  R.  I.  Money  for  a chapel  has  already  been  pro- 
vided by  Mrs.  William  Bancroft  Hill,  who  recently  visited  the 
college.  Doctors’  and  nurses’  residences  are  yet  to  be  con- 
structed. The  Nurses’  Home  is  to  bear  the  name  of  Rachel 
Fillebrown,  her  father  making  the  gift  on  the  occasion  of 
her  marriage,  to  perpetuate  her  maiden  name. 

In  the  congested  part  of  Vellore  a dispensary  and  receiving 
ward  opened  by  the  college  authorities  are  now  established. 
These  work  in  connection  with  the  School  and  Hospital, 
patients  being  kept  under  observation  for  a time  and  serious 
cases  being  sent  to  the  Hospital.  This  ward  was  given  by  Ella 
M.  Cole. 

The  first  class  to  complete  the  Vellore  Col- 
PERSONNEL  OF  jggg  Course  will  graduate  in  1922  and  will 

number  approximately  20.  The  students  now 
number  about  sixty-five,  residing  in  scattered  bungalows  in 
the  neighborhood,  far  or  near,  of  the  Hospital.  Of  these 
girls  few  if  any  have  taken  full  college  courses,  as  indeed  it 
is  not  needful,  perhaps  not  even  desirable,  that  they  should. 
Time  presses  and  the  call  is  urgent.  The  majority  of  the 
students  are  High  School  graduates,  while  some  have  taken 

17 


pre-medical  courses  at  Voorhees  College  or  attended  Madras 
University  for  two  years. 

Letters  and  examinations  prove  these  Indian  girls  studious, 
earnest,  thoughtful,  Christian, — good  material  for  the  great 
work  to  which  they  have  consecrated  themselves. 

In  the  year  1919  Vellore  sent  up  fourteen  girls  for  the 
sub-assistants’  examination,  all  of  whom  secured  passes,  four 
taking  their  places  in  the  first  class,  “the  school  topping  the 
Presidency  both  in  anatomy  and  chemistry.”  {Madras  Mail.) 

A letter  just  now  received  from  Dr.  Scudder  tells  of  a girl 
in  the  junior  class  who  went  up  a short  time  since  for  the 
Government  examination  in  anatomy.  Men  students  from  six 
medical  schools  in  the  Presidency  (comparatively  numerous, 
we  note,  these)  took  the  same  examination.  The  work  of 
our  young  Vellore  candidate  was  found  to  outrank  all  others, 
an  achievement  so  conspicuous  that  the  Government  of  India 
has  conferred  a gold  medal  upon  her. 

In  1920  there  were  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  ap- 
plicants for  admission  to  the  College.  Of  these,  indeed,  a 
number  were  not  sufiiciently  qualified  to  enter,  but  for  lack 
of  room  only  twenty-eight  could  be  received.  Accordingly, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  would-be  medical  workers  for  the 
suffering  womanhood  in  South  India,  their  own  kin,  were 
turned  away,  many  of  them  ready  and  able  to  enter  upon  their 
preparation  could  the  school  have  received  them. 

Again  we  say.  Time  presses  and  the  call  is  urgent. 

If  ye  know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do  them. 

Word  of  Jesus.) 


(The 


Freshman  Class  at  Vellore 


Freshman  Class  at  Vellore 

PRESENT  NEEDS  OF  THE  SCHOOL 

Houses  for  Doctors  and  Nurses  $25,000 

Main  Hospital  75,000 

Electric  Plant  10,000 

Water  System  15,000 

Equipment  for  Laboratories  and  Operating  Room  . . . 20,000 

Furnishings  10,000 


Latest  Arrivals  at  Vellore 


CCX)PERATING  BOARDS 


Reformed  Church  in  America 

Womiin’s  American  Baptist 
Foreign  Mission  Society 

Woman’s  Board  of  Missions, 
Congrega  donal 

Lutheran  Woman's  Board 


Rev.  James  L.  Barton,  D.D.,  Chair* 
man  of  Board  of  Governor*. 

Rev.  W.  I.  Chamberlain,  Ph.D.,  Sec- 
retary and  Treasurer,  25  East 
22nd  Street,  New  York  City. 


